I think when people post their signatures they should tell us what kind of a feeling they were trying to achieve i.e general terms such as dark, tech-y, bright, happy, sci-fi-ish lol get what im saying?

This is similar to what I mentioned in this topic earlier.

We should try to artistically aim for the mass appeal of features in these graphics- strictly critiquing a signature runs into odds , when you have conflicting opinions (I’ve seen this happen)- I’ve seen this on several sites. And while I don’t think anyone here for example does multiple SOTW’s across multiple sites/boards, we still should allot more weight to the author’s likely/intended audience.

IT actually is difficult to explain, but we don’t want to do what will essentially end up confusing artists in terms of reviews when they get feedback.

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Softening the border on this image gives it a interesting look- it’s far soften than my traditional borders , I take note. I wonder at the contrast appearance from doing this.

everyonebothersme wrote:
What do you guys think of my most recent work?

Well, lets see.

(Note: I am addressing these tips in response to the idea that was mentioned that perhaps it needs somethign on the right, which may or may not be all that it could be enhanced with. There’s a lot MORE you can do, but first i’ll address some possibilities for that “critique”.

You’ve got some fancy lighting going on, with the edges of the image giving way to a whitish-fading end. Dark Magician girl’s render is already at a diagonal slant- which is almost the most you can expose it. A content aware scaling might be what you’d need to stretch it if you were leaning towarsd that..

The border is very subtle, many might not notice it- however, it’s allright. It’s interesting- that’s a reason I use hard edged borders, to give it a three dimensional razor edge appearance(or at least a lot of my traditinal sigs)

Seeing as you’re not quite as border-common as I have become, you have some options. If the image feels like it’s empty, one thing you could do is get it to stand out more- you could drag in renders, then blend mode them , to un-empty the right side.

Depending on how you have the render put in the image- if your layers aren’t too merged, you could also use the burn tool on the right side of the image, to extend the visibility of the image.

Regarding renders, one option you can keep in mind is you could always bring in a render of say, her wand, and fade it in or merge it as you see fit.

Or you could do a “extension”, where you take the darm mag girl’s render, copy it, and expand it and lower either the fill or opacity, and extend it bigger than most of the image- if you know what I mean(such as images where you’ll see a ghastly image of a figure, then a slightly smaller, more solid look)

Another variant of this is somethign Cid loved to utilize, the “inset” picture trick .

You have the option of directly moving the render also- if the render in the picture right now is not too cut off, you coulddrag it to the right. However, if that edge is where her hat really cuts off, you’d have to fade it out - or find a way for it to flow in the image. Or put something in front of it(what I mean by this is - if i have a render of someone, and their arm ends, cut off- I can make a light streak go in front of the arm and make it look like they’re reaching behing the light streak- also something you can sometimes do with borders XD (depends on the border though)

I’ll stop here isntead of going onwhen I look at it i see tons of possibilities and I could give you a ton more information on what sorts of things you could experiment with doing, until they match your feel) , but your options are not too limited in terms of that signature....know that much

A very interesting style you have- am I right in guessing the swirling, effects in the background were done on purpose- because I see a lot centering around his sword on the left side, and even some “pull” in the direction of his Hilt.

The render itself seems to have some fuzzy washing-out occuring, but that might be intentional smudging/pulling on your part, so I am not sure- otherwise ,i will say that if you yourself felt it was lackign some crispness, you can try runnign it through the “sharpen” a few times.

Also, if you are seeking for ways to enhance the render, remember the tricks where you can double the render’s layer, and then edit the blending modes.

I personally have a few methods using such techniques that i absolutely love, where you double the target layer and then use a blur on the second, and then overlay the second image(this is one variation, but the most famour of them all for adding a “soft focus” - however, a lot of artists I know who are far more advanced than me love throwing on layer after layer, and masking out and in parts they want)

Anyway, my “border bias” as it seems I have, would recommend a dark border to that image- but It’d also allow seperation of the bottom of Samurai Jack and the rest of the page(when viewed on webpage that are totally white, it fully matches it)

For what it’s worth, if you continue to flesh that style out- I say go for it. You’ll become proficient in warping and smudging/twirling, and then, I personally want to see what happens when you use those skills on other backgrounds....

(Note: I am addressing these tips in response to the idea that was mentioned that perhaps it needs somethign on the right, which may or may not be all that it could be enhanced with. There’s a lot MORE you can do, but first i’ll address some possibilities for that “critique”.

You’ve got some fancy lighting going on, with the edges of the image giving way to a whitish-fading end. Dark Magician girl’s render is already at a diagonal slant- which is almost the most you can expose it. A content aware scaling might be what you’d need to stretch it if you were leaning towarsd that..

The border is very subtle, many might not notice it- however, it’s allright. It’s interesting- that’s a reason I use hard edged borders, to give it a three dimensional razor edge appearance(or at least a lot of my traditinal sigs)

Seeing as you’re not quite as border-common as I have become, you have some options. If the image feels like it’s empty, one thing you could do is get it to stand out more- you could drag in renders, then blend mode them , to un-empty the right side.

Depending on how you have the render put in the image- if your layers aren’t too merged, you could also use the burn tool on the right side of the image, to extend the visibility of the image.

Regarding renders, one option you can keep in mind is you could always bring in a render of say, her wand, and fade it in or merge it as you see fit.

Or you could do a “extension”, where you take the darm mag girl’s render, copy it, and expand it and lower either the fill or opacity, and extend it bigger than most of the image- if you know what I mean(such as images where you’ll see a ghastly image of a figure, then a slightly smaller, more solid look)

Another variant of this is somethign Cid loved to utilize, the “inset” picture trick .

You have the option of directly moving the render also- if the render in the picture right now is not too cut off, you coulddrag it to the right. However, if that edge is where her hat really cuts off, you’d have to fade it out - or find a way for it to flow in the image. Or put something in front of it(what I mean by this is - if i have a render of someone, and their arm ends, cut off- I can make a light streak go in front of the arm and make it look like they’re reaching behing the light streak- also something you can sometimes do with borders XD (depends on the border though)

I’ll stop here isntead of going onwhen I look at it i see tons of possibilities and I could give you a ton more information on what sorts of things you could experiment with doing, until they match your feel) , but your options are not too limited in terms of that signature....know that much

----------------------Tippership Works

Tippership Commander wrote:

Champion Lance wrote:
[IMG]http://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i444/ChampionWanklord/jack.png[/IMG]
What do you guys think?

A very interesting style you have- am I right in guessing the swirling, effects in the background were done on purpose- because I see a lot centering around his sword on the left side, and even some “pull” in the direction of his Hilt.

The render itself seems to have some fuzzy washing-out occuring, but that might be intentional smudging/pulling on your part, so I am not sure- otherwise ,i will say that if you yourself felt it was lackign some crispness, you can try runnign it through the “sharpen” a few times.

Also, if you are seeking for ways to enhance the render, remember the tricks where you can double the render’s layer, and then edit the blending modes.

I personally have a few methods using such techniques that i absolutely love, where you double the target layer and then use a blur on the second, and then overlay the second image(this is one variation, but the most famour of them all for adding a “soft focus” - however, a lot of artists I know who are far more advanced than me love throwing on layer after layer, and masking out and in parts they want)

Anyway, my “border bias” as it seems I have, would recommend a dark border to that image- but It’d also allow seperation of the bottom of Samurai Jack and the rest of the page(when viewed on webpage that are totally white, it fully matches it)

For what it’s worth, if you continue to flesh that style out- I say go for it. You’ll become proficient in warping and smudging/twirling, and then, I personally want to see what happens when you use those skills on other backgrounds....

I’m curious , did you create the background to this one??? :?

It’s not bad. :]

holy shit dude just stop it. what do you think this is? haven,t you ever heard that knowledge is power? why give out that knowledge to others damn. all you have to do is say it sucks and move on caz thats what real critiques do. its not about helping them open up their options, they can figure it out for themselves or not. quit damn trying to hand holding people. and you were going to post more? yea you are trying too hard like he said. why dont you go back to your signatures and just do your thing and let everyone else fail instead of trying to help then and thus failing.
take some real advice, rate them 1 thru ten and leave it at that.
Why do you think real critics who critic movies dont do all of that? because real critique is jsut telling how far the movie is from perfect, and thats it. no helping anyone figure it out.
if the series wasnt good from the getgo then they dont deserve to put out another good movie, and they wont with bad reviews. this keeps all the stupid movies from living on and kills them off, making room which is badly needed.